With Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich bunched within 5 percentage points of each other, the trio is poised to effectively split the 90 delegates at stake in the two Southern states.

And with Romney likely to win the majority of delegates in the night’s caucuses in Hawaii and American Samoa, the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign will argue he was the day’s winner, or at least not its loser.

But Romney’s losses to Santorum in the deep-red South — home to the Republican Party’s most conservative voters — holds a particular sting for Romney as he attempts to convince GOP voters that he is a true conservative.

Even if Romney comes out ahead in the delegate math, Santorum — who won the popular vote in both states — will still be able to claim the momentum after Tuesday night’s vote, and keep the prolonged race for the GOP nomination going.

Throughout the past week, Romney and his campaign tried to lower expectations for the Alabama and Mississippi vote. He called the states “an away game” against the Georgian Gingrich and the culturally conservative Santorum. But as the contests approached and polls showed a competitive, three-way race, Romney himself on Monday predicted he would win in Alabama.

Romney’s third-place finish didn’t stop his campaign from issuing a press release and quotations from the former Massachusetts governor touting his presumed new delegate haul.

“I would like to congratulate Rick Santorum on his victory in Alabama and Mississippi,” Romney said. “With the delegates won tonight, we are even closer to the nomination. Ann and I would like to thank the people of Alabama and Mississippi. Because of their support, our campaign is on the move and ready to take on President Obama in the fall.”

In campaign trips to Alabama and Mississippi over the past week, Romney seemed to be trying to win, affecting a Southern demeanor by “learning to say ‘y’all’” and eating “cheesy grits.”

On election day, while Santorum and Gingrich were with supporters, Romney spent the evening flying from here to New York City, where he intends to hold fundraisers Wednesday and Thursday. The campaign left it to aides to appear on cable news shows to push his case.

The GOP presidential contest moves next to Puerto Rico and Illinois, a delegate-rich state where Romney and his super PAC have already poured millions of dollars into TV and radio advertising. A Chicago Tribune poll this week found Romney leading Santorum in the state by just 4 percentage points.

While Romney’s quips from the stump ricocheted on cable news and the Internet, Romney’s team — which even in Alabama and Mississippi was still far more organized and professional than the Gingrich and Santorum operations — pushed its supporters to turn out.

And in Mississippi, Romney had particular advantages. He had the enthusiastic endorsement of Gov. Phil Bryant and other statewide officeholders and an operations team aided by Austin Barbour, whose uncle, Haley Barbour, was governor and himself flirted with the 2012 presidential race.

In the final days before the primaries, Romney’s aides stressed that a second- or third-place finish in either state wouldn’t damage his campaign. A virtual three-way tie, or any result that led to an even delegate split, would prevent either Gingrich or Santorum from cutting into Romney’s overwhelming delegate lead, the advisers said, and would be a good night for their campaign.

But that argument didn’t account for two clean Santorum wins.

Speaking on his campaign plane before leaving for Kansas City on Tuesday, Romney concurred, saying the key to the day is accumulating delegates, not winning states.

“You know, this is all about getting delegates,” he said. “And I hope to get more delegates tonight. If the polls are right, we’ll pick up some delegates. That’s what it’s all about.”

Romney said he expected to win one-third of the 90 delegates Alabama and Mississippi are awarding Tuesday. Hawaii is also awarding 17 delegates Tuesday night and nine are up for grabs in American Samoa.

“Well, you don’t know from polls what will happen but obviously if the polls are anywhere near correct, we’ll end up with, I don’t know, a third of the delegates,” Romney said. “And if that’s the case, why that inches us closer to that magic number.”

Romney didn’t mention his GOP rivals during two stops Tuesday in Missouri, where Republicans will caucus Saturday. At a Monday midday stop in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, Romney hammered President Barack Obama for his assertion that rhetoric from GOP presidential candidates is contributing to rising gasoline prices.

“He said it’s because Republican presidential candidates are talking in a very muscular way about Iran and their nuclear program,” Romney said. “It’s disappointing to have the president of the United States take a serious foreign policy issue, which is Iran, the state sponsor of terror in the world becoming nuclear, and trying to turn that into saying we’re somehow responsible for high gasoline prices in this country.”

“It’s a real stretch, even for a guy who’s gotten pretty good at making excuses,” he added.

And in Liberty, a Kansas City suburb, Romney implored his Missouri supporters to caucus for him and described his campaign in unusually broad terms.

“So you guys, we’ve got work to do,” Romney said. “This is a great and powerful movement across the country. We’ve had millions of people joining our cause. States, delegates are lining up behind this campaign to take America back to restore our freedoms to keep us the shining city on a hill.”